Hamilton Township ordered to return $2.5 million of "Impact Fees"

Hamilton Township has been ordered to return $2.5 million to impact-fee payers by December 15, 2012.

A Warren County judge issued the ruling on Friday. Judge Flannery ordered $2.1 million be returned to the group of private development companies and the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati that filed suit against Hamilton Township.

Flannery also ordered that the remaining impact fees, paid by those not involved in the suit, comprised a common fund and ordered that Hamilton Township continue to hold those fees and all interest until after a hearing. All payers must be notified of the hearing.

The Hamilton Township "Impact Fee" was imposed on new residential and commercial development projects in Hamilton Township and was used to fund police and fire protection, and roads and parks. Every time a builder or anyone else applied for a building permit, the township would impose a tax that had to be paid to get the zoning certificate.

In June 2012, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued a unanimous decision that a Hamilton Township impact fee constitutes an illegal tax and said the fees, charged since 2007 by Cincinnati's Hamilton Township, constitute a tax that the township wasn't authorized to collect.

The decision reversed a lower court ruling and reinstated the civil suit filed against the township by a group of private development companies and the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati.

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